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Jeff Berlin fired by Frank Zappa

#3
Did anything Zappa ever did, including lyrics, ever make any sense?

Side note: The sound guy at Workplay Theater in Birmingham, AL....well he was on Zappa's crew for many, many, many years....it's great to hear that guy throw out random Zappa strories.

Also, I bet if you email Jeff Berlin, he will tell you why...seems to be an open kind of guy.
 
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#4
holytiamat777 said:
Ok, can someone explain to me why Frank would ever fire such an amazing musician?
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The story as I understand it -- and my understanding is based on two sources: Jeff's description of the situation at a clinic he gave at Berklee in 1980 or 81, and Frank's description of the situation from his autobiography The Real Frank Zappa Book -- is that Jeff, knowing that he's such an amazing musician, basically went to Frank and said "I'm an amazing musician, I should get paid more than the other not-so-amazing musicians in your band." Frank paid all his sidemen the same salary, and told Jeff to take a hike if he wanted more money.

And lest anyone say something like "Berlin is an arrogant egotistical blowhard for thinking he's so much better that he deserves more money"

...he got the idea from Vinnie Coliuta, who made the exact same request and was also fired by Frank.
 
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#6
sleepy_monkey said:
Did anything Zappa ever did, including lyrics, ever make any sense?

Side note: The sound guy at Workplay Theater in Birmingham, AL....well he was on Zappa's crew for many, many, many years....it's great to hear that guy throw out random Zappa strories.

Also, I bet if you email Jeff Berlin, he will tell you why...seems to be an open kind of guy.
Click to expand...

Just about everything Zappa did definitely made sense, so I'm not sure what you mean. There was indeed a method to his madness.
 
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#12
Sneckumhaw said:
Wasn't that when he had Thunes on bass? I never understood why the others hated him so much, he seemed like an excellent bassist.
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I don't know Scott Thunes, but I DO know that being on tour with any band is a WHOLE LOT MORE than just good (or excellent, for that matter) musicianship . . .





That whole "group dynamics" BS, if ya' know what I mean . . .


:cool:
 
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#14
Frank liked Scott, and he liked what Scott was doing and told him so. The rest of the band hated him, and he, them. That band basically self destructed as in, "The best band you never heard in your life". (From the Zappa book, as well). Yup, flaky artist types with attitudes sometimes get ugly quick. Old story.
Josh
 
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#19
Scott was intolerant to the extreme, he even said in an interview that if someone tried to take a conversation with him to a "moronic" level, he would turn around and go away.

Jeff Berlin deserved that "raise", he is a true genius, and as much as i love Frank and his music, if he couldn´t afford Jeff it was his loss.
 

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